World Kindness Week is scheduled for November 7-13, 2022!  It is intended to focus public attention on the need for people to be kind to one another.  This was adopted formally in 2021 by the government of Canada and could not come soon enough.  Local businessman Gordon Burtt has long been the champion of the local Kindness Club.   

The pandemic is chipping away at the kindness for which New Brunswickers have been known forever.  It has made us edgy, made many very angry, short-fused, frustrated.  On the one hand, there are many stories of people going out of their way to protect persons at risk and to keep those in quarantine in good shape with food and provision.  There have been many stories of innovation as people re-invent living around this awful virus.

By now we are all sick to death of the pandemic!  People are restless, depressed, frustrated, tired of following what often seem to be illogical rules, pushed to get vaccinated, never knowing if they can see loved ones, and more.

​Let me be clear:  my wife and I have been loyal subjects, following every rule that is imposed on us without public complaint and taking every vaccination made available.  I am no anti-vaxxer, not even close.  But I do respect the rights of those whose opinions differ from mine to express their opinions in a mature, controlled manner without shouting and without nasty language.  We are a population of persons, all of us from different cultures, educational backgrounds; some of us steeped in science, some very suspicious, some having become amateur virologists during the pandemic.